


Peace and Joy

by aneighthdomain



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Flower Shop & Tattoo Parlor, Ben Solo Needs A Hug, F/M, Flowers, Fluff, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Little bit of angst, Tattoos, implied/referenced dementia, visiting graves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-04
Updated: 2020-06-04
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:00:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,607
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24541219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aneighthdomain/pseuds/aneighthdomain
Summary: Flower Shop Girl, Rey and Tattooed Ben.
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 20
Kudos: 96





	Peace and Joy

**Author's Note:**

> This was supposed to be a drabble based on some artwork of flower shop Rey and tattoo Ben, and it kinda got away from me. So yeah. I would share the artwork, but I literally have no idea how to do that. >_>
> 
> Titles are hard, so this is just based on flower color. In case anyone wonders.
> 
> TW/CW: Brief mentions of dementia, and Leia is the off screen character death  
> As per usual, this is unbeta'd as I do not have a permanent beta.

"Are these for your girl?" Rey asked, plastering a smile on her face. She was fishing. She knew she was fishing. Hopefully _he_ didn't know she was fishing. 

The corner of his mouth slanted upwards, and the smirk made her stomach do somersaults. "Something like that."

Rey made herself turn up the wattage on her smile. That was the most not-answer anyone could ever give. "That's so nice."

The other side of his mouth tilted up. "Yeah. Thanks." He reached for the note cards, the sleeve of tattoos showing starkly against his pale skin. She focused on the vine of thorns that ended in a fully bloomed rose around his wrist and forearm. It was her favorite tattoo of his. Of course it was. It was a flower, like the ones she worked with, but also a little edgy for the thorns, like he was. She always felt like it was the perfect representation of the two of them since he'd gotten it a few years ago. 

Well at least, she thought it could be if she could drum up the courage to ask him out. 

He folded up the little note card and slid it into the little envelope and slid it into the flowers. Same routine, every week. "Thanks for your help."

This time her smile was genuine. "As always."

And then he walked out the door with Rey sighing after him.

*******

He was running late today. Usually he came in around mid morning, but it was late afternoon before he walked through the door. She was getting ready to start her end of day cleaning when she heard the bell over the door chime and she looked up, smiling at him as he searched for her. 

“Good afternoon!” she said brightly. “Are you looking for anything in particular today?”

That smirk hit her. It always hit her. Like she was saying something that he found very amusing, but not that he was laughing at her. More like, he had a secret that she was invoking for him. “A flower, of course,” he said.

She nodded, feeling the tightening of her skin around her nose and cheeks. Wonderful, she was blushing. He didn’t seem to mind though. His smirk even turned into a softer version of a smile and he looked down at his feet while he put his hands in his pocket.

“T-the usual then, Mr. Solo?” she asked, recalling his name from the last time he’d used his debit card to purchase the flowers he normally paid for in cash. And the smirk was back, as if he knew she’d pulled his name from his debit card. Well at least he didn’t seem to think she was creepy and somehow knew his name when she shouldn't.

“Ben,” he said. “Mr. Solo is my father when you get cheeky with him.”

His smile broadened as she giggled and covered her mouth as she tried to choke it back. “You have a great laugh,” he said, and it was like he was delighted to see her blush because impossibly his smile became absolutely brilliant. His dimples even came out and his eyes squinted just a little and she had to completely cover her face.

“Okay, so the usual flowers, _Ben?_ ” she asked again, turning away so she could blush in peace and not have him see how much his compliment pleased her.

She didn’t see the way his eyes softened on her retreating form into something a little dreamy as he made his way to the counter.

*******

He was waiting for her this morning, which was _highly_ unusual for him. Usually he was at work by now. She’d learned the last time that he worked as an artist in the tattoo shop on the other side of the strip mall. They opened an hour before she did so he should already have been at work. “Good morning, Ben,” she said when she was close enough for him to hear.

He whirled around to see her, moving over to the trash that also had a protrusion for cigarette butts to put his out. Odd. He’d mention that he’d been trying to quit and that he was actually doing pretty well at it. Her concern ratcheted up when she saw that his smile was tight and didn’t reach his dark eyes. She wanted to say something, but he just nodded at her and waited for her to open the door.

“The usual flowers?” she asked, trying not to stare at him curiously to try and suss out what the problem was without asking him.

“Uh, yeah,” he said quietly with none of the cheerfulness he normally had. She looked over her shoulder at him as she turned off the alarm and flipped all the lights on.

“Are you...uh…”

He looked up at her, and smiled slightly and there was a little of his normal self in it as he gave her an inquiring hum. She smiled back at him. “Never mind. Let me get them ready for you. Usually I already have them ready, but you’re so early today.”

He furrowed his brow. “You ‘have them ready?’” he asked.

She nodded as she went behind the counter and turned the computer on.

“Yes. They’re pretty delicate to heat, so I usually get them wrapped up before I have to turn the AC down and put them back in the fridge until you get here.”

Ben blinked at her and leaned on his elbows on the counter. “Do you do that for all your clientele?”

She was starting to get used to these blushes, so she only glanced down as she shook her head. “No. I don’t really have any regulars usually. At least not ones that come in religiously, but these are special flowers, right? For your ‘something like that’ girl?”

That smirk was back, and she breathed a mental sigh of relief. Good, she’d managed to cheer him up...somehow. “I’ll be right back,” she said and he nodded, leaning more into the counter.

She hit the music on the way through the back and pulled the flowers out of their refrigerator before she began preparing them. It didn’t take her long and she was bringing them out to the main part of the store where he was tracing patterns into her counter. He smiled again at her, warmly this time.

“Here you are,” she said softly, handing them across the counter to him. He looked down at them, and he lost just a fraction of that warmth, and she worried at they weren’t acceptable to him, but then he was smiling at her again, his hand touching hers as he took them from her, his fingers lingering on hers for just a moment longer than they needed to.

He took the full weight of the bouquet and placed it in the crook of his arm as he pulled the usual amount of cash out and handed it to her. After she gave him his change, he smiled warmly at her again and headed out, but not before he gave her one last look and a wink that sent her blushes up to glowing levels and then he sailed out the door.

*******

He shook the rain out of his hair as he came in, his normal time for this encounter. He didn't look as cheery as he ideally did when he came in. She blinked a few times as she set the usual bouquet of the flowers on the counter. 

"Good morning," she said, trying to sound chipper, but his obvious darker mood pulled most of the cheer from it. 

He looked down at her from behind his dripping black hair. "Morning," he said softly, and Rey's heart broke. He sounded like he was on the verge of tears. Like someone had destroyed his entire life. Without another word, he pulled his wallet out and set the card down on the counter before reaching for the note cards. 

He had a new tattoo. She could see the crisp lines against the raised reddened skin. This was fresh. Hours fresh. She let her eyes follow the patterns that scalloped around his elbow, framing and disappearing behind the helmet. Oh...it was the flowers. The flowers he always bought from her. Something was wrong. Very, very wrong. 

But she was just a flower shop girl. They weren't dating. It wasn't her place to be a support for him. Rey couldn’t stop herself as she reached out a hand and placed it on top of his though, and she rubbed her thumb against the back of it when she realized it was shaking. He didn't look up at her but he didn't have to. 

"I'm so, so sorry, Ben," she said. Now he did look up at her and the tears in his voice were now in his eyes. She gave him a tight smile and patted his hand before sliding his debit card back to him. 

He stared down at it for a moment like he couldn't remember what its function was. He opened his mouth to protest, but she'd already noticed the color was drained from his normally flushed lips and she knew whatever was wrong, today was not the day for business. 

"Next time," she said softly. "Not today." 

His mouth closed again and his Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed back whatever he was feeling. With a duck of his head he took the credit card and slid it back into his wallet, then into his pocket. He took up the flowers and turned toward the door and the torrent of rain waiting for him. 

"One more thing," she said, coming around the counter. He turned back to look at her. She dug her geeky Galaxy Wars umbrella out from under the counter and brought it to him. "Take this, too."

He opened his mouth to protest again and she shook her head, taking his free hand and putting the umbrella in it. "The flowers will be fine, but you really should keep the new ink out of the rain."

He blinked a few times, his gaze moving down to his left arm. He looked back to her face and gave her a tight, thin lipped smile that pushed all the rest of the color from his lips and nodded. He turned away and opened the door before popping the umbrella open and disappearing into the silvered rain. 

  
  
  


*******

He didn't come in the next week. Or the week after. She'd had to toss the flowers only he bought on a regular basis, but she refused to not have them on hand when he did return. If he returned. It was a waste, but she was already in the black this month. 

The next month was a little tighter, but still, she'd have those damn flowers in stock for him if it meant she spent the rest of her life just that bit short on her inventory funds. But the days kept going by and no word from him. Not even to return her umbrella. She wasn't upset by it, of course, but he seemed like the kind of guy that wouldn't keep something that wasn't his. He very much seemed like the sort who needed to return things as soon as possible. 

So it had been as bad as she'd thought. Someone had died or had been dying. She'd been selling flowers long enough to recognize the look but she hadn't wanted to believe it for his sake. It was the worst feeling. It was a feeling she was long familiar with. And it was an ache she knew would never go away. She wished she could be there for him. 

It was nearing two months to the day when he finally came in. She wasn't expecting him since it wasn't the normal day, so it never occurred to her that he might come in literally any other day because that was how business hours worked. She was up on the ladder, dusting and re-shelving the examples of stuffies, vases, and arrangements when she heard him clear his throat behind her. The weather had been so nice today that she’d left the shop door open and so the bell hadn’t rung to announce his arrival.

Rey yelped, started to teeter, but grabbed onto the shelf to steady herself at the same time she felt huge hands on her legs. She craned her neck to look over her shoulder and saw him smile sheepishly up at her. Even on the ladder she wasn't much taller than him and it was a little disorienting. Better to climb down before interacting. 

She sent him a smile of her own before she turned back to look at her feet to climb back down. He kept his hands on her the whole time, their spotting touch shifting from her legs to her hips to her back and then her shoulders, and really did he _have_ to touch her that much. Did she care though? 

She suppressed the little shiver that went through her when his hands moved down her arms. She looked up at him, finding herself a little breathless at the familiar smirk playing on his lips. 

"Sorry," he said. "I really should have said something at the door."

She shook her head and stepped back a little to give herself a chance to breathe. "But if you'd done that then you wouldn't have been there to help me."

He also took a step back and ran a hand through his hair. Her eyes automatically went to the sleeve on his arm. She smiled in delight and without thinking stepped up again, reaching out to pull his arm down. "You finished it! It looks so good!"

He held his arm out to let her examine the whole piece. The color was perfect, the exact blues and golds of the flowers he’d gotten every week. Belatedly she realized that one, she just grabbed someone who was essentially a stranger and started examining his tattoo without consent. She was pretty certain that was rude. Two, this was the most she'd ever touched him since they'd met a few years ago. 

She let go of him like she'd burned herself and tried to take a few steps back, but his hand caught hers before she got too far. He didn't pull her in but he didn't let go until he was sure she wasn't going to back away anymore. 

"You and my mother are the only ones who ever noticed new ink on me," he said smiling. "You'd be surprised how nice that is."

Rey looked at him confused. "Wha...why? It's obviously fresh, who could miss that?" 

He tilted his head, studying her. "People who don't really look at me."

Rey didn't know how to respond to that so she just stared at him. 

"Listen...I hate to ask this, but are you doing anything for the rest of the day?" 

Rey shook her head, gesturing around her. "This is basically my life. It's Sunday, so it’s a half day and I'll be closing in a couple of hours, but otherwise, nothing."

"This is probably the worst thing ever to ask, but, could you maybe close up early to go with me somewhere?" 

Rey blinked at him for a moment. "Um...I mean, can I ask where?" 

His eyes darkened a little and he had that tight lipped smile again. "My mom really wanted to meet you. She was the one I always brought the flowers for. Since you picked them out the first time, she said she always wanted to meet you, but there's kind of a short window to visit her in today."

Rey just stared at him. Was this for real? They’d barely even flirted over the years, not even admitted feelings or been on a date, but he wanted her to meet his mom. This was real life, right? 

Whatever. She already knew what her answer was going to be. "Sure. Sundays are always slow. That's why they're my half days. Just let me clean up real quick."

"If you think I'll be of use, I can help? I know my way around closing procedures in general."

She smiled at him and pointed at the ladder. "That goes in the closet next to the bathroom. There's a broom in there if you want to sweep up?" 

He smiled at her and nodded. "Sure thing."

It was the fastest she'd ever closed down the shop. By the time she had the drawer counted out, he'd swept, dusted the rest of the store (since he was tall enough not to need a ladder), wiped down the glass doors of the refrigerators, and had a rough inventory done. She took the money to the safe in the back and tossed it in with its receipt to take to the bank tomorrow. Grabbing her purse, she headed back out through the store again with a quick segway to get his mother's flowers. Once the alarm was set, they were out and he led her to his Ford Falcon. He didn't seem like a classic car kind of person, but then she didn't look like a classic car mechanic hobbyist either.

He opened the door for her and handed her in before coming around to his side and hopping in. 

It's not too far from here," he said, “‘bout twenty minutes. We're going to St. Mary's."

She took a deep breath and slowly nodded, looking at him through the corner of her eyes. He declined to look back, instead studying all of his mirrors. There were only two St Mary's. One was a church, a right turn on Main Street. The other was a cemetery, a left turn on Main Street. He turned left. 

"Ben I...I'm so sorry...I didn't..."

He got that tight lipped smile again. "You couldn't have. I never told you who the flowers were for. I thought it was more fun to flirt with you than to go on about my declining mother."

Rey bit her lip, looking down at the flowers in her hands and completely disregarding the flirting comment. "Did she really like the flowers?" 

The proper smile returned to his laugh. "She adored them. Her favorite part of the week. Even when she started forgetting my dad and me, she always remembered the flowers."

Rey pursed her lips. “I’m glad they made her happy.”

Ben cast a glance at her. “They did.”

The rest of the trip was in silence. After all what did you say to that? It wasn’t too much longer before they reached the cemetery though and Ben navigated his way into the grounds, swinging around bends and turns until he finally stopped near an old oak tree that cast a massive shadow of shade. Ben gestured that she could get out of the car and handed himself out as well. When he came around the car, he held his hand out to her.

Rey hesitated, but took it as she closed the car door behind her. With a soft smile, he turned and led her through the little path that ran between the flat grave markers until they came up to one that was nearing the center of the shade provided by the tree’s leaves, but not near enough to be dug into the roots of the tree. Ben let her hand go as they both paused to look at the simple marker.

“Hey, Mom,” he said, kneeling down to rearrange the silk flowers so that there would be room for the new bouquet that she’d brought. “You said you always wanted to meet the flower shop girl who picked out the flowers for you. This is her. This is Rey.”

Rey moved forward and looked down at the name. “Hi, Mrs. Solo.” She handed the flowers to Ben who took them and laid them down.

“She would have wanted you to call her Leia,” he told her. “She preferred everyone call her Leia since no one could decide if they should call her Organa or Solo.”

Rey smiled a little at the tiny smile on his lips. “Hi, Leia,” she corrected. Ben grinned at her.

He said a few more things, mostly just things like ‘I miss you’ and ‘I wish you were here in person,’ and those sorts of things. But his final words to his mother shocked her pretty profoundly.

“And just so you know, yes, I am going to ask her out for a proper date. Just like you wanted. I just wanted to bring her out to meet you first.”

Rey looked at him, slack jawed in confusion as he turned back to look at her. He smirked at her expression. “What, you thought I’d bring just anyone to visit my mother?”

“I...but...I...?”

The smirk morphed into a genuine smile. “Yeah, you. Rey, would you go to dinner with me tonight?”

She blinked a few times, then slowly smiled back. “Yeah. I’d like that.”

Ben stood, reaching a hand out toward her and threading his fingers with hers when she took it. “Great. Let’s go then. We’ll come visit mom again later.”

Rey nodded and let him lead the way back to his car. Rey looked back over her shoulder at the slate marker. _Thanks, Leia. I’ll take care of him for you._

She turned back to Ben then, so she missed the breeze that didn’t seem to exist anywhere other than just near the marker and ruffled the blossoms as if someone was lovingly brushing their hand through the sweet flowers.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading~! I truly hope you enjoyed it~! And remember, always feed and water your fic authors. Kudos are lovely, comments are delightful, and MOAR is always inspiring~!


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